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Socalled filibuster rule, which now becomes all the important after todays vote. Excellent. Im not sure ive ever seen Steve Kornacki and his khakis as work on a ranked Choice Voting election so im very much looking forward watching him break this down. I started to write a script about the ranked choice thing, and i did a couple of shots at it and i just went, im leaving that to kornacki. Its just going to be, and heres Steve Kornacki, and go ahead and explain ranked choice. I just its tough. When it comes from the Point Of View of the voter i always thought it should be called One Two Three voting. From the point of voter you dont have to do anything that hard. The hard part to explain is how it gets tabulated. The counting the vote part of it is hard to explain. What you do as a voter isnt that hard. But i bet kornacki can explain that part better. Exactly. Its the counting the vote spot in the script where i just gave up, and you can watch that on tv later this hour. See the point, ranked choice. They get too choose their top five. Then heres steve. Now he knows to be ready in the middle of your sentence. Very good. Thank you, rachel. What we saw in the United States senate today was a show performed for two senators, majority leader Chuck Schumer, brought to Voting Rights bill for a vote just to show Democratic Senators joe manchin and Kirsten Sinema that bipartisanship is hopeless in the United States senate on Voting Rights and so much more. Joe manchin got an agreement with Chuck Schumer that the democrats would adopt the Manchin Compromise Version of the bill, and still joe manchin could not get a single republican to go along with that, and so the republicans won today by preventing the bill from reaching the necessary 60vote threshold to proceed. Senator manchin released this Statement Today saying, quote, unfortunately my republican colleagues refuse to allow debate on this legislation despite the reasonable changes made to focus the bill on the core issues facing our democracy. As i have said before, the right to vote is fundamental to our american democracy, and protecting that right should not be about party or politics. I remain committed to finding a bipartisan pathway forward because the future of our democracy is worth it. After the vote, reporters asked joe manchin once again about the possibility of him supporting reformibuster rule. No, guys. I think yall know where i stand on the filibuster. I think you all know where i stand on the filibuster. Well, no, Senator Manchin, we do not. In one of joe manchins first acts as a United States senator, he actually voted to eliminate what we saw today. On january 27, 2011, senator joe manchin voted in favor of resolution which he cosponsored, which he proudly then said in a Press Release would have, quote, eliminated the filibuster on motions to proceed to a debate on substance of a bill. The vote was 44 in favor, and 51 opposed. Joe manchin was one of the minority of senators ten years ago who was this favor of completely eliminating the 60vote threshold on motions to proceed to debate which is what the vote was about today. The vote wasnt about to bill today. It was just about, can we debate the bill . When joe manchin cast that vote ten years ago against the Current Senate rule, he explained his vote in a Press Release saying, West Virginians deserve a government that works for them, and they are understandably frustrated with the way things get done or dont in washington. And at the end of his first year in the United States senate on december 13, 2011, senator joe manchin sponsored another bill to make another change in the senate rules on the 60 vote threshold. Senator manchin said that rule change would, quote, fix the filibuster. If senators want to halt action on a bill, they must take to the floor and hold it through sustained debate, and Senator Manchin repeated his objective to, quote, end filibusters on motions to proceed to debate. Ten years ago, joe manchin could see with the clear eyes of a new senator just how broken the senate rules were and how they were being exploited. And joe manchin recently said similar things in a private meeting, comments that are leaked to the press and indicated joe manchin is open to changing the 60vote threshold rules. Joe manchin was right ten years ago. He was right ten years ago when he was the leader the leader of a movement to change the senate rules. Joe manchin was right that we should never, ever, ever allow filibusters on the motion to proceed to have a debate. But now that almost every single democratic senator agrees with joe manchin on that, joe manchin may not agree with joe manchin about that. Because ten years is such a long time in the United States senate now. Ten years ago was a long time ago. So long ago that joe manchin might be forgetting what he supported himself ten years ago, what he said himself ten years ago about what happened today. He predicted this ten years ago. That the senate could be dysfunctional if you allowed votes like this on simply the motion to proceed to debate. Ten years ago was a long time ago. Ten years ago donald trump was still a tv clown and a con man running frauds off trump university, and Mitch Mcconnell ten years ago was completely in favor of the Voting Rights act. The last time the Voting Rights act was reauthorized, it passed the senate 980, with Mitch Mcconnell voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights act for 25 years. And then the republican appointees on the United States Supreme Court got to it and struck down the key provisions of the Voting Rights act, which Mitch Mcconnell had supported. Senator Kirsten Sinema, whos in her first term as a sinema demonstrated in an oped in the Washington Post about the 60vote threshold that she knows close to nothing about the senate rule and how its been use andabused. If the staff wrote it they should be fired because its full of falsehoods in an imaginary world in which bills passed by 51 votes in the senate will be repealed when the senate power shifts even though she couldnt get examples of that happening. Obamacare passed with 51 votes. Republicans tried to appeal it and failed. Her piece said medicaid could be changed drastically by republicans if we got rid of the 06vote threshold that protects medicare and medicaid so well. She has no idea that theres nothing stopping republicans from repealing the existence of medicaid and medicare and they can do that with 51 votes in a Reconciliation Bill any time they wanted to come up with those 51 votes. Senator sinema might be much smarter than her Public Comments on this issue, but the oped piece published in her name and possibly written by her staff, its the single most historically and procedurally ignorant entry on the senate rules discussion so far. And when asked about it by nbcs Garrett Hague today on the day when republicans used the senate rules to refuse to allow just a debate of Voting Rights, senator sinema was speechless. Literally speechless. And speechless in the worst possible way. She actually laughed about it. Senator, what do you say to democrats who are disappointed by your oped about the Filibuster Feeling maybe they could still change your mind . The democrats fighting for Voting Rights on the senate floor were fighting against a republican hypocrisy, perfectly framed by georgias democratic senator raphael warnock. Surely some of my republican friends believe in this chamber we should be able to debate about Voting Rights. After all, Voting Rights are preservative of all other rights and what could be more hypocritical and cynical than invoking Minority Rights in the senate as a pretext for preventing debate about how to preserve Minority Rights in the society . Tonight, President Biden issued a statement saying, the creed we shall overcome is a long time mainstay of the civil rights movement. By coming together, democrats took the next step forward in this continuous struggle, not just on capitol hill, but across the country, and a step forward to honor all those who came before us, people of all races and ages who sacrificed and died to protect this sacred right. Ill have more to say on this next week, but let me be clear, this fight is far from over. Far from over. I have been engage in the this work my whole career, and we are going to be ramping up our efforts to overcome again for the people for our very democracy. Joining us now democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Pleasure to be with you, lawrence. You have become the senates leading expert on this socalled filibuster rule, and its really the 60vote threshold rule, which is technically a different thing from filibusters. Have you made progress to the point in presenting the case against it to your democratic colleagues that we are down would you say were down to the point of Senators Sinema and manchin are the only ones left in coming to this agreement . Lawrence, let me present it this way. Theres been a social contract that the majority does not run over the top of the minority. Its very different from the house. Thats from the very beginning, 26 senators said we could listen to each other and hear everyone out before we took a vote. That was so successful that in 1805, they got rid of the motion to close debate or call to question, because it was never needed because of this courtesy of listening to each other. So when my colleagues talk about the importance of bipartisanship and their goal in support of sustaining the filibuster, what theyre referring to is this social contract that you dont run over the top of the minority. They have a full chance to participate. They should have a chance to do amendments. They should be able to delay to seek compromise. But theres another half of the social contract, which is ultimately the minority Cannot Paralyze the senate, cannot turn it into a deep freeze, and that is the half that Mitch Mcconnell has destroyed in the first six years i was in the senate and harry reid was the majority leader, he suffered through 400 we all suffered through more than 400, if you can, call them filibusters, but essentially obstruction of the senate to go forward, and each obstruction requires a intervening date, which means a whole week is destroyed. There arent 400 hours in a six week period. Its like walking knee deep in mud. So we have to come together as democrats and first reach out to republicans with the foundation that joe manchin laid out and some of the adjustments we were talking about over the weekend and say, okay, you can see the text now. He hasnt completely released maybe he has tonight, released the text. Go through it. Another opportunity. Come and join us. This should be, as Senators Manchin and sinema say, bipartisan. This is fundamental values. This is stopping billionaires from Buying Elections with dark money. This is stopping gerrymandering that corrupts equal representation in the house of representatives. This is ending conflicts of interest and corruption that means Public Servants serving the public. Republicans embrace these ideals, overwhelmingly, 31. Its only in the senate and the house where we have republicans saying, hey, we want to bail on these fundamental american protections and values and really the foundation of our republic. So what has to happen now is well reach out the republicans. Hopefully they will join us. Certainly manchin has a lot of good ideas on the table to support these principles. Then if they reject that, which we find of anticipate that they will, then were going to have to be 50 democrats coming together to say, we have a responsibility to save your nation, to save our constitution, and we have to figure out how to complete the other half of the social contract. No, we wont run over the top of the republicans. Yes, theyll be able to participate, able to debate, but in the end they cant paralyze the is that the and prevent us from protecting the fundamental values our nation has. The question today, did todays show work for joe manchin and senator sinema . You saw senator sinema actually laughing about this today. Im not sure anythings going to work with her. But by the way, i had not been a critic of senator sinema in any way whatsoever until i read her oped piece, which is the single most but do the democrats believe that the show today to show joe manchin and senator sinema that there is no republican support, did it work . I think the stronger point today was to show that 50 democrats were ready to debate and pursue the defense of Voting Rights and fundamental principles of democracy in america, and 50 republicans, corrupted by power, were not willing to do so. Were giving them another opportunity. We still hope they join us, but then lets note that in her as say that you refer to, senator sinema said, we need to have senators come together, debate the filibuster, share their concerns and their perspectives. I take that as a vote of good faith that she, as others, are ready to come together and have this debate, share our knowledge of history, our knowledge of the senate, our understanding of our responsibilities, and i think together if it comes to that, and republicans will not join us, 50 senators are going to find a path. Its too important to fail. Senator jeff merkley, hope youre right. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. I hope so. Thank you. Thank you. Joining us now is democratic senator alex padilla of california. He previously served as the Secretary Of State of california. As Secretary Of State youre closer to the Voting Process than most have been, where you do believe the senate has to go now . And lets be honest about this, this was a show for two democrats. It was a show for joe manchin to prove to him what the republicans could do. It was a show for senator sinema to prove to her whats really happening here. Were going to have another show apparently on the john lewis possibly Voting Rights bill, where the republicans will also block that, and apparently some time after that, senator merkley says, then all 50 democrats will get together and really try to convince these two to come along to change the rule. Well, lawrence, good to be back with you. First of all, lets talk about what happened today. Was it disappointing . Yes. Was it shocking . No. And its certainly not over. What we saw today was the American People saw what party stands up for fundamental Voting Rights of all americans and one is scare offend a debate. What are they scared of . The reason i say its not shocking look how the year started william a deadly insurrection of january 6th, and just a few weeks ago by not supporting a independent Bipartisan Commission to get to the root cause of that, republicans clearly walked away from the notion of a peaceful transition of power and now theyre walking away from our fundamental right to vote, so yes, our democracy is on the line. So democracy is on the line. We all hear the rhetoric coming from the democrats. We hear the Senate Democrats saying, this will not standle all that talk. But it all comes down to the rule. Everyone knows its down to the rule. Its not down to policy, we get it. Its down to the rule, and we know there are at least two democrats standing in the way of changing the senate rule and reducing that 60vote threshold down to a majority vote threshold. If that doesnt happen, does that mean the democrats will then just, okay, give up, the words didnt mean anything, we try, they wouldnt change the rule . No, failure is not an option here. Were going to have to keep pressing and maybe, just maybe we can move more of my colleagues on the question of filibuster. If it was up to me, wed eliminate it, but at least creating a carveout, an exception for saing our democracy. I got to remain hopeful. If we were having this discussion a week ago, Senator Manchin wasnt a yes on this bill. But we got him to yes on this measure. Maybe theres room for movement on the filibuster. The other thing i remind us of is, look, getting honor to those who marched, who fought, who died during the civil rights movement, for the Voting Rights act, it didnt happen in one attempt, but they kept at it until they got, you know, historic legislation and protections, were fighting for those same rights and protections to